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India Rubber Meet 2018 from tomorrow onwards
The fourth edition of India Rubber Meet, an event proposed to be held biennially, will be held at Grand Hyatt, Kochi Bolgatty, Kerala on 30 and 31 October 2018. India Rubber Meet  is organized by the Rubber Board in partnership with stakeholder associations in rubber and related sectors. The Meet is a major initiative of Indian rubber industry to organise a regular forum for interaction, networking and exchange of information. Smt. Sheela Thomas IAS, former Secretary General, ANRPC  will inaugurate the Meet. The inaugural function will begin at 10.00 am. D. Anandan IAS , Chairman of the Organising Committee will welcome the gathering and Mr. Vinod Simon , Vice - Chairman, Organising Committee, IRM 2018 will propose a vote of thanks in the inaugural function.
The theme of India Rubber Meet 2018 is ‘Towards a sustainable rubber value chain’. IRM 2018 has a combination of invited talks and panel discussions, with ample time set for networking. Topics of invited talks and panel discussions cover global economic outlook, rubber industry outlook, global and domestic NR scenario, synthetic rubber developments, trends in auto and tyre sectors. Speakers are internationally known experts in the respective fields and represent major industry bodies and key enterprises.
The rubber sector is frequently undergoing economic, industrial, technological and developmental changes. The critical conditions like depressed raw material prices, declining product sales, economic slowdown, oil price changes, currency fluctuations, speculative factors, global warming, crop loss etc. are also affecting the sustainability of the rubber and related sectors. Rubber is a strategic commodity. Because of the strategic importance of rubber, the industry has to overcome the challenges by ensuring a long term support from the related sectors. The last three IRMs could create a strong platform of stakeholder associations to formulate appropriate strategies for ensuring balanced and sustained growth of rubber industry.
India Rubber Meet 2018 will provide opportunities to hear experts from across the world on prospects of rubber industry and allied topics. Panel discussions on challenges and opportunities at global level will be led by technocrats and management professionals and rubber industry stakeholders. There will be discussions for stakeholders on Indian perspectives also.
There are four sessions on the first day  of IRM 2018. The first session ‘Economy & Sustainability – I’ will be chaired by Mr. Ajay Shah  and the speakers are Dr. D. K. Joshi  and Gunther Lottmann . The second session ‘Changing Technology Landscape - Impact on the Value Chain’ will be chaired by Mr. M.P. Cherian . Mathew George , Mr. Rakesh Batra , are the speakers. The third session on ‘Natural Rubber & Synthetic Rubber Scenario - New Technologies & Focus on Productivity and Quality’ will be chaired by Mr. Rajiv Budhraja  and the speakers are Mr. Jom Jacob , Dr. James Jacob  and Mr. Kishor Katkar . Last session of the first day is ‘Innovations / Breakthroughs / Success Stories- Learnings & Takeaways’, which will be chaired by Dr. A. K. Krishnakumar . The speakers are Mr. Jose Mathew Kochukudy  and Mr. N. Dharmaraj, Director .
D. Anandan IAS  will give out the mementos to the sponsors of IRM 2018 on the first day.
The last session ‘Economy & Sustainability-II’ on 31 October will be chaired by Mr. Vinod Simon . Mr. John Heath , Dr. Hidde Smit  and Dr. Prabhakar Reddy Patil  will speak on related topics.
The talks will be followed by panel discussions. The panel discussion on international scenario ‘Global Challenges and Emerging Alternatives’ will be chaired by Dr. Hidde Smit . The panellists are Mr. Jom Jacob , Dr. Lakshmi Nair , Mr. Diogo Esperante , Mr. C. Vinayaraghavan  and Mr. C.J. George .
The second panel discussion on ‘Challenges & Opportunities from Stakeholders' Perspective’ will be chaired by Mr. D. Anandan IAS . Mr. Rajiv Budhraja , Mr. V.T. Chandrasekharan , Mr. Radhakrishna Hebbar , Mr. Shiyaz Ali  and Mr. Tomy Abraham  are the panellists. More details can be had from ‘www.indiarubbermeet.in’
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